Quote:
Originally Posted by GreenLantern2814
For $14M, you can have Alexander Ovechkin and Vlasic. I simply don't see any team spending that much cap on a single player, doesn't matter who it is.
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No, you can't – not without giving up far more in assets than a parcel of late first-round picks. San Jose is very unlikely to trade Vlasic, and Washington, I guaran-damn-tee you, is not going to trade Ovechkin for any price that wouldn't gut the acquiring team.
If you offer-sheet McDavid, you sacrifice picks and cap hit. But it is the only way (short of winning the draft lottery in the right year) that you can acquire a young, proven franchise centreman at a predetermined price, and the team holding his rights has no chance to negotiate – they can only match the offer or let him go.
If I'm in McDavid's skates, I'll be waiting for an offer sheet that takes me exactly to my first year of UFA status, minimizing the length of time I will have to spend in Edmonton when they match. I suspect there are a number of GMs in the league who are more than willing to do McDavid that favour, figuring he may remember them fondly when he does get a chance to pack his bags and leave a dog of a franchise in a doghouse of a city.